October 31, 2009

“You gotta practice crossing those legs, man!” yells Eddie Falcon, 27, an ex-senior airman for the US Air Force who now lives with a crew of activists in a loft on Mission and 16th Street. His friend, Robin Long, 25, who was recently released from a military prison outside of San Diego after a year-long sentence for deserting the Army in a time of war, is giggling and pulling his miniskirt down over his hairy thighs, trying to figure out how to pose in a chair without being too obscene.

Falcon laughs as Long pushes his hair behind his ears and purses his lips in an exaggerated mock kiss. “Man,” Falcon says. “This is gonna be crazy. I don’t think this many veterans have ever gotten together and hung out in dresses.”

Falcon and Long are both members of The San Francisco chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), a national organization started by a group of Iraq War veterans in July 2004 to give a voice to active duty service people and veterans against the war. In four days they’ll both be lip-syncing and dancing alongside ten other veterans at Dance Mission Theater in a fundraiser for Dialogues Against Militarism, another anti-war organization that’s sending a delegation to Israel to meet with young war resisters on November first.

The drag show is based in pure hard-nosed activism–Falcon and Long are neither gay nor particularly inclined to dance and sing– but part of a group of war veterans who travel the world, speaking in front of students, protesters and government officials.

“Our chapter is special,” said IVAW’s San Francisco chapter president, Stephen Funk, 27, who made international headlines in 2003 when he came out both as a gay man and as the first conscientious objector to the war in Iraq. “We’re visionaries. I mean, you won’t see any of the other chapters doing drag shows anytime soon; they’re more traditional. But believe me, it’ll happen eventually.”

The show, he said, is good for gathering supporters tired of the traditional protest gambits of marches, posters and speakers.

Hosted by “His Noble Negress, Malcolm McDrake” and featuring performances by award-winning drag queens such as Raya Light and Suppositori Spelling, the fundraiser, Make Drag Not War, represents the adoption of a new, unorthodox style of activism for the veterans. It’s partying-with-a-purpose and IVAW is just one of a growing number of Mission District non-profits trying to advocate in new ways. To many, partying and activism aren’t mutually exclusive.

“The Mission is a great ecosystem for this type of thing,” said Brent Schulkin, founder of Carrot Mob, an organization that uses consumer power to woo businesses into changing their evil ways. “You’ve got your general activists, your technology people, and of course all the people who are down go out and party. It’s just a great place for thinking different.”

Started in 2007 by Schulkin, a former Mission resident who practiced and eventually got bored with traditional activism, Carrot Mob is “a method of activism that leverages consumer power to make the most socially-responsible business practices also the most profitable choices.”

His first stab at this new tactic, which he refers to as “an anti-boycott,” was a party he threw at K&D Market on Guerrero and 16th streets in 2007.

Using social networking, he invited a large group of friends to meet at the market to buy their beer, cigarettes and snacks for the night, thus guaranteeing a sudden influx of money for the store. In exchange, he asked the owners of K&D to invest some of the extra cash into energy saving renovations. It worked. Friends invited friends and by the end of the evening, people were drunkenly dancing in the aisles and K&D had enough extra money for an energy efficient lighting system.

Since then, Carrot Mob has expanded using its website as a hub for new branches popping up across the globe. Most recently, the organization hosted another “anti-boycott” on September 10th of this year at Epicenter Café in the SoMa. The result? With the extra money from five hour’s worth of Carrot Mob spending (10 times the usual), the café was able to implement a new 8% price discount for people who bring their own mugs/cups, install color coded trash/recycle bins, and switch from wooden stir sticks to a clean/dirty spoon system. Not bad for a day’s work.

Schulkin is hoping to turn Carrot Mob into a forceful worldwide movement, organized through a system of online collectives. “Imagine going to Nike or Reebok and being like ‘look, it’s Christmas. I got five million people ready to buy your shoe instead of your competitor’s. What can you do for us?’”

It’s that kind of thinking that sets San Francisco’s activists apart from the herd.

Other eccentric organizations with San Francisco roots include Rebar, the art collective behind PARK(ing) Day, a worldwide annual event where activists transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for relaxing, dancing and drinking and Swap SF, a sporadically occurring — the next event is set for early December said the organizers — clothing swap/warehouse party with a residency at Cell Space that donates clothes to various shelters in the Bay Area. There’s also The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Bicycle Coalition–which began advocating for cyclist’s rights in 1971 before disbanding in the early 1980’s and then reforming in 199 –and so on. Of course, these organizations represent only the most recent wave of San Francisco bred non-conformist activism.

San Francisco has played host to dozens of creative activist movements throughout the years–there were the beats in North Beach, The Diggers in The Haight, gay rights organizations in The Castro, etc–and the legacy carries on today thanks to forward-thinking activists like Schulkin, Falcon, and Funk, the main organizer behind Make Drag Not War.

As an ex-marine, a former inmate (he served six months for an “unauthorized absence”), a career activist, and an occasional porn performer, Funk, who’s been the president of his chapter since its inception in 2005, is accustomed to thinking different. He encourages other members to do the same.

“Demonstrations and marches certainly have their place,” said Funk. “But a lot of times its like preaching to the choir. At an event like Make Drag Not War, you’re gonna have people who come just to party and leave feeling inspired to get out and do something. Isn’t that the point?”

I am writing to you in an appeal for your assistance in making the Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM) project a reality. At a time when financial resources are scarce, your donation is especially vital.

This group of US war resisters and anti-militarism organizers is putting together a ground-breaking show of international solidarity amongst those directly resisting the US War on Terror and Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. DAM will send a US war resister delegation to Israel/Palestine, so that US military objectors, Israeli refuseniks, and Palestinian activists can come together, share ideas, and build relationships. They will also be making a film about the experience, to preserve the lessons learned and stories shared for continued organizing purposes.

These human connections, in the face of seemingly endless war and occupation, are vital: they give us the strength and hope we need to build global movements that can take on the forces that confront us, and they remind us that we are not alone.

The refusal of US and Israeli youth to take part in the wars and occupations their governments are waging is critical to movements against militarism and empire. Last year over 100 Israeli High School students signed an open letter refusing to join the Israeli military, due to their conscientious objection to “Israeli occupation and oppression policy in the occupied territories and the territories of Israel,” with many of them landing in military prison as a result. This past August another group of students followed in their footsteps. And in the US over 200 troops to date have publicly refused to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of those wars, while countless more have quietly resisted, all of them risking, and many serving, long prison sentences. As the US and Israeli wars and occupations drag on—with the continued occupation of Iraq, escalating attacks and bombings in Afghanistan, and last winter’s brutal attacks on the already besieged Gaza Strip, as well as the continuing violence against Palestinians and theft of West Bank land—these military objectors are a vital force of resistance from within. And when war resisters are linked up with Palestinians resisting occupation, they can be a powerful force for change.

Your contribution to DAM will enable a contingent of US resisters and supporters to travel to Israel/Palestine and participate in this international gathering of war resisters and activists as well as the production of a documentary film, an important piece of independent media in this time of disinformation. To make all of this happen, DAM must raise $15,500. A significant amount has already been raised but more help is needed. I am asking you to consider making as large a donation as you can. This is a powerful project at an important historical moment and I hope that you can help to ensure that it takes place.

D.A.M. was created from the belief that the power of conversation can serve as a means to develop new ideas and advance the possibilities of moving beyond militarism. D.A.M.’s mission is to foster free and open conversations that engage and challenge issues of militarism through the relation of experiences by those who have been on its front lines. It is hoped through these dialogues that together we can build a better world.

October 29, 2009

Canada should be a refuge from militarism, not deporting U.S. war resisters who refuse to deploy in Iraq.

Laura Kaminker Freelance writer; activist.

On Thanksgiving weekend, Michelle Robidoux, Christine Beckermann, and Janet Goodfellow packed up Michelle’s little red Hyundai and headed out of Toronto before dawn. They crossed the border at Lewiston and continued south, through the autumn colours of Pennsylvania, past the traffic snarling around Washington D.C. The three Canadian women, friends and colleagues of mine from the War Resisters Support Campaign, were on their way to Camp Lejeune, a sprawling U.S. Marine Corps complex outside Fayetteville, North Carolina. Our friend Clifford Cornell is imprisoned there.

Cliff joined the U.S. Army in 2004 but refused to deploy to Iraq. He came to Canada in 2005, and lived for years on Gabriola Island, a quiet arts community off the coast of Vancouver Island near Nanaimo. In February 2009, his refugee claim denied and his appeals exhausted, Cliff was ordered to leave Canada. When he returned to the U.S., he was arrested, court-martialed – that is, he was tried by his accusers with no opportunity to raise a defence – and sentenced to a year in military prison.

The three friends spent the night in a motel in Virginia, steeled themselves in the morning, and passed through the gates of Camp Lejeune. After surrendering everything they carried, including car keys and passports, they joined a long line of families waiting to visit a loved one in the brig.

“As soon as we got in line,” says Christine, “I was filled with a really strong anger, almost overwhelming. This is what our government had done to Cliff.”Conscience behind barsCliff, wearing an orange jumpsuit, was shocked and overjoyed to see his friends from the north. After many hugs and a few tears, he told them about life in the brig, a world of constant frustration, zero privacy, and endless boredom. Rules that govern every aspect of life seem designed to break any bonds that might form between inmates. Cliff can’t even share a book – if he receives one in the mail, it goes in the trash after he reads it.

Cliff lives in a barracks with 40 other young men; he’s allowed outside one hour each day. His sentence is three to four times as long as those of his fellow inmates, even men convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder.

“Conditions are very harsh,” says Christine, “but that wasn’t what made me angry. How the U.S. military runs its brigs – there’s nothing surprising about that. What’s shocking is that our government would participate in putting people who’ve done the right thing into that position. And after [deported war resister] Robin Long was sentenced to 15 months, and Cliff for a year, they’re still moving to do the same thing to other people. It’s outrageous.”

When visiting hours ended, Cliff and the other inmates were strip-searched and sent back to their barracks. “We felt so bad leaving him,” says Janet. “Here’s this guy who did the right thing, who obeyed international law, and followed his conscience. He should be on Gabriola Island, with a community and a job, but instead he’s sitting in prison.”

“But they volunteered!”

Canadians who oppose U.S. war resisters remaining in Canada usually fixate on one note. This is different than Vietnam, they say. In those days, people were avoiding a draft; these soldiers volunteered. First, it’s not true. And second, it doesn’t matter.

Of the estimated 50,000 Americans who came to Canada during the Vietnam War, about 10,000 were not escaping the draft: they volunteered for service, but when they saw what was really happening in Vietnam, they deserted and came north – and Canada allowed them to stay.The Iraq War resisters volunteered, but what did they volunteer for? They promised to protect and defend their country, but as we all know, Iraq was never a threat to the United States. Even Stephen Harper has admitted that the Iraq War – which he supported and would have sent Canadian troops to – was “absolutely an error.”

What about stop-loss, the “back-door draft” that would have sent war resister Rodney Watson – now living in sanctuary in a Vancouver church – back to Iraq against his will? An estimated 15,000 U.S. servicepeople are in Iraq through stop-loss, some on their third and even fourth involuntary deployment.

What about recruiting lies? War resisters Kimberly Rivera and Joshua Key were told that because they had children, they would never be sent overseas.

But more importantly, what difference does it make if the origin of military service was voluntary? Can signing a contract possibly be more important than the human right of conscience? Does Canada want to stand for justice, or act as an enforcement agent for the Pentagon?

What can be done, what should be done

Rodney Watson shouldn’t have to hide in a church. Cliff Cornell, James Burmeister, and Robin Long shouldn’t have prison records and felony convictions that will hamper their opportunities forever. Kimberly Rivera and Jeremy Hinzman shouldn’t live in fear of their families being broken up.

The Canadian Parliament has twice passed motions calling on the government to stop deporting war resisters and allow them to stay. While officially non-binding, the two motions clearly expressed the will of a majority of Canadian people. The minority Conservative government ignored them both.

Now the House of Commons has an historic opportunity to put the weight of law behind those motions. Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale-High Park) has introduced Bill C-440, a private member’s bill that would allow U.S. war resisters to stay in Canada. Although private member’s bills usually have little chance of passage, this one has the support of all three opposition parties.

The question is, how many more people of conscience will be deported before C-440 comes to a vote?

The eyes of the world are watching. To borrow a phrase from former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s reputation as a “refuge from militarism” hangs by a thread.

The complete interview with Christine Beckermann and Janet Goodfellow about their visit with Cliff Cornell will be available at We Move To Canada.

Investigative reporter Jane Mayer of The New Yorker magazine revealed last week that the number of US drone strikes in Pakistan has risen dramatically under President Obama. During his first nine-and-a-half months in office, Obama authorized at least forty-one CIA missile strikes in Pakistan—a rate of approximately one bombing a week. We speak to one of the most high-profile critics of the US drone program: Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Alston says the US government’s use of Predator drones may violate international law.

Blue Scholars is a hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington. The duo was created in 2002 while the members, Geologic and Sabzi, were a part of The SHOW (Student Hip Hop Organization of Washington) at the University of Washington (Seattle). The group consists of one DJ, Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) and one MC Geologic (George Quibuyen).

The name "Blue Scholars" is a play on the term "blue collar," which is an idiom for workers who often earn hourly wages for manual labor. Their music and lyrics often focus on struggles between socioeconomic classes, challenging authority and youth empowerment, as evidenced in the songs "Blink" and "Commencement Day." These themes are often specifically addressed in relation to the Seattle region, as in "Southside Revival", "North by Northwest", and "The Ave."

October 28, 2009

This is the most authoritative, comprehensive evaluation of our presence in Afghanistan I have seen to date. It not only nails the current situation to the mast, but puts it in a historic context that should make everyone reflect deeply on the underlying policies and policy failures that are bankrupting our country and making it a pariah to the rest of the world.

"I'm here today to make a stand beside you because I believe great wrongs have been perpetrated in Afghanistan.

"I cannot, in good conscience, be part of them. I'm bound by law and moral duty to try and stop them.

"I'm a soldier and I belong to the profession of arms. I expected to go to war but I also expected that the need to defend this country's interests would be legal and justifiable. I don't think this is too much to ask.

Police said "around 5,000" people took part in the demonstration from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, while a spokesman for organisers Stop The War Coalition put the figure at 10,000.

Some of the crowds chanted "Gordon Brown, terrorist" while others sang "What do we want, troops out".

Young and old carried banners bearing the slogans "troops home" and "Afghanistan out".

A total of 222 British troops have died since operations in Afghanistan began.

Jeremy Corbyn MP, vice-chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "Now is the time to change policy and bring the troops home to prevent Nato involving itself in a Vietnam-style quagmire."

Among protesters was the country's oldest anti-war demonstrator Hetty Bowyer, 104, who told the crowd:

"I march because I can see no reason for further killing."

Also attending the rally was Peter Brierley, father of Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, who was killed in Iraq.

October 22, 2009

After his experience in Iraq, Rodney said he would never return to the war zone. When he rotated back to his base he experienced a situation similar to Victor Agosto and thousands of other soldiers. Rodney Watson was almost done with his military contract when he learned his outfit at Fort Hood was returning to Iraq and he would be stop-lossed.

Victor Agosto refused to go and was court-martialed.

Rodney Watson chose Canada. The Harper Regime, in opposition to the will of most Canadians and the Parliament, has refused to give him sanctuary in Canada. Now he is living in a church and being supported by the local community.

Laura, of We Move To Canada, writes in her blog today some suggestions for Canadians:

How you can help:

Write a letter in support of Rodney to your local paper. The Council of Canadians has a great tool to find addresses. Your best shot at getting a letter published is to keep it under 200 words. But even if your letter doesn't run, it helps other letters get published.

Donate if you can; no amount is too small (or too large!). Whether or not you can donate, circulate the link to support our fundraising campaign for legal defence of war resisters facing deportation. Donate here.

Contact your MP. Ask her or him to support Bill C-440, which will give the weight of law to two motions already passed in the House of Commons.

-We should write the papers in Canada and here in the states supporting Rodney Watson and other War Resisters.

-We should donate to the organizations that are helping our War Resisters at home and in other countries.

-We should call our senators, representatives, etc and demand an end to the wars and an end to the persecution of our prisoners of conscience.

-But for now we should take care of the families of the war resisters. Organize our neighborhoods, churches, social organizations, etc. to assist these families while their soldier leaves the country or goes to prison for refusing to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan.

October 21, 2009

OLYMPIA – Eight members of an Olympia anti-war group who were arrested during protests Nov. 13 at the Port of Olympia are scheduled to go to trial the week of Nov. 30, a prosecutor said Monday.

The other 18 people who were charged with misdemeanor attempted disorderly conduct and gross misdemeanor obstruction of a law enforcement officer for their alleged actions at the port on Nov. 13 have all entered into plea deals.

The plea deals allow each defendant’s criminal charges to be dismissed, provided that they stay out of trouble for a specified length of time and pay a $150 fine, said Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jim Powers.

Powers has said that the same deal has been offered to all of 26 of the protesters who were charged over their alleged participation in the Nov. 13 action at the port.

The anti-war protesters were arrested Nov. 13 in what is known as the “women’s action” at the port. The action consisted of a group engaging in a sit-in outside one of the gates where the Stryker convoys had been exiting the port.

For about a week in November 2007, anti-war protesters blocked shipments of Stryker vehicles and other military cargo from the Port of Olympia to Fort Lewis. The military equipment had been used in the Iraq War.

During a pre-trial hearing Monday morning, Larry Hildes, a defense attorney for some of the remaining defendants, along with three women who are representing themselves in court to fight their misdemeanor charges, argued that the criminal charges against them should be dismissed because of the prosecution’s failure to comply with discovery requests.

Several defendants took advantage of Powers’ plea offer immediately after Monday morning’s hearing.

Part of Hildes’ discovery requests had asked for all of the Olympia Police Department’s contingency plans for dealing with the protests, and what advance information the police department had on what was going to occur during the protests, Hildes said.

Hildes said that he became aware that the prosecution was not complying with the discovery requests only after receiving responses to public records requests that had been sent to the city of Olympia. The city’s response showed that a member of Fort Lewis Force Protection, Thomas Rudd, was sending the Olympia Police Department detailed “threat assessments” in the run up to and during the 2007 port protests. These “threat assessments” detailed intelligence about what the Army thought the protesters might or might not do.

Hildes said Monday that he thinks the intelligence detailed in the threat assessments was obtained by John Towery, a man who has been accused of spying on Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, the anti-war group that engaged in the protests.

Fort Lewis has stated it is conducting an inquiry into the allegations that Towery spied on the group under an assumed name. Towery has been identified by Fort Lewis as a civilian employee of Fort Lewis Force Protection.

Fort Lewis Force Protection supports “law enforcement and security operations to ensure the safety and security of Fort Lewis, soldiers, family members, the workforce and those personnel accessing the installation,” Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek has stated in an e-mail.

Military law experts, including Yale Law School lecturer Eugene Fidell, have said that a civilian Fort Lewis employee spying on an anti-war group appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that prohibits the use of the Army for conventional law enforcement actions against civilians.

Hildes added that the spying violated the protesters’ First Amendment and other Constitutionally-protected rights.

“It has to be penalized,” Hildes said during Monday’s hearing.

POLICE RESPONSE

Olympia Police Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad has said in a prior interview that the threat assessments e-mailed to him by Fort Lewis prior and during the 2007 port protests had no impact on how police dealt with the protests. “I just read them and deleted them,” Bjornstad said in September. “Nothing I read in any of those changed our approach to anything.”

In response to Hildes’ allegations about the prosecution not complying with discovery requests, Powers argued that the communications by Fort Lewis to OPD in e-mails do not constitute “contingency plans” for the police department, because they were not written by the police department but by Rudd, a member of Fort Lewis Force Protection.

“There is no such plan,” Powers said.

Powers also argued that any of the issues about what Towery did or did not do, and whether he spied on the protesters is not germane to the issue of whether the protesters’ actions were in violation of criminal law.

“What’s at issue is whether these people committed the crimes alleged,” Powers said.

Thurston County District Judge Sam Meyer agreed with Powers, and during Monday’s hearing, he refused to dismiss the remaining cases based on Hildes’ motions for failure to comply with his discovery requests. Meyer said that the issue of whether the government was spying on the protesters is an important, substantive issue, but it “isn’t relevant to the activities that were going on on Nov. 13.”

One of the protesters who still faces misdemeanor charges, Patricia Imani, said the judge’s ruling was disappointing, but not unexpected. Imani stated that she had no intention of blocking Stryker vehicles on the night of Nov. 13, and no Stryker convoys exited the gate where the women’s action was occurring that evening. She added that her actions that evening were part of a legal demonstration protected by her First Amendment rights.

The War Resisters Support Campaign Statement regarding the situation of U.S. Iraq War resister Rodney Watson

VANCOUVER—The War Resisters Support Campaign is a network of volunteers working together to provide assistance to members of the U.S. military seeking refuge in Canada as a result of their opposition to the illegal war in Iraq. Groups exist in many centres across the country and include a wide diversity of age and origin including many former U.S. citizens welcomed to our country during the Vietnam era.

The Campaign was initiated following the arrival of Jeremy Hinzman in 2004, the first of the new generation of conscientious resisters. Our work has focused primarily on assisting these young men and women in the legal aspect of their search for refuge in Canada, and in lobbying for a provision to be enacted that would ensure that U.S. Iraq War resisters are allowed to remain in Canada rather than face imprisonment or forced participation in an illegal war.

The War Resisters Support Campaign works within the Canadian legal and political systems. We also work in consultation with, and respect for, each individual resister with regard to their wishes and choices. With respect to Rodney Watson's decision to request and accept sanctuary from the congregation of the First United Church we are appreciative of the church members' courageous moral stance.

We are also in agreement that this choice, by both Rodney and the church, is consistent with Canadian traditions and values of peaceful resistance to unjust decisions by government. We reiterate that through two majority votes, Parliament has called on the Government of Canada to stop the deportation of these war resisters. This reflects the majority view in this country as expressed in public opinion polls. Yet the Government of Canada has chosen to ignore both Parliament's direction and the will of Canadians.

It would be unconscionable to deport Rodney Watson, separating him from his Canadian fiancée and son, after Canadians and their political representatives have spoken so clearly. The punishment faced by resisters who have already been forced back to the U.S. by the Conservative minority government has been exceptionally harsh because they spoke out against the war – a war that Canada chose not to participate in. This is the fate that certainly awaits Rodney if he is forced back to the U.S. against his will.

We call on all Canadians who agree with Rodney's decision not to participate in the Iraq War, to support the stand that he and the First United Church have taken. Write, email, phone or personally contact your Member of Parliament and urge them to call on the Government of Canada to respect the will of Parliament and end the threat of deportation against Rodney Watson.

We urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to halt all efforts to deport Rodney Watson and all of the other resisters who are facing persecution if forced back into the United States.

VANCOUVER — U.S. army deserter Rodney Watson has become the first fugitive from service in Iraq to enter church sanctuary in Canada.

Monday morning, the 31-year-old told reporters he has been living in refuge at the First United Church in Vancouver since Sept. 18.

"I don't believe it will be just for me to be deported," said Watson, flanked by church ministers and supporters. Watson lost his refugee claim on Sept. 11, and was expecting to be deported back to the U.S., where he faces jail for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The main reason Watson wants to stay is to be with his 10-month-old son and fiancee, who live in Vancouver. Watson said his son is currently in foster care, but wouldn't say why. He said he plans to get married and settle in B.C.

Ric Matthews, minister with the First United Church, said Watson has an apartment at the church, and is fed on-site. Watson cannot leave the grounds of the church.

Matthews said the church agreed to let Watson take refuge because it doesn't support the Iraq War, or the way the U.S. military treated Watson — who signed up to be a military cook, but was ordered to find explosives.

"We expect the authorities will continue to respect this place as a place of sanctuary," he said.

Sarah Bjorknas of the War Resisters Support Campaign Vancouver said three out of the five military deserters who have been deported from Canada since 2008 have been jailed.

A statement by Vancouver NDP MP Libby Davies said she'll continue to ask the Tory government to honour two non-binding votes in Parliament to allow army deserters to seek asylum in Canada.

"The government has chosen to ignore the will of the majority view of Canadians," said Bjorknas.

October 20, 2009

The military recently announced that they have exceeded all their recruiting goals. This story provides a strong reminder that people are joining because they are desperate. Desperate for a job, for an education, and now for health care.

One of the worst tragedies of the recession has been people losing their health insurance because they lost their job. Nearly 14,000 Americans lose their insurance every day. Wisconsin father Bill Caudle was laid off from his job at a plastics company in March 2009, which resulted in his family losing their employer-subsidized health care coverage. This put the family in an especially precarious position, because Bill’s wife, Michelle, was an ovarian cancer patient. After months of unsuccessfully looking for work, Caudle did the only thing he could to get his wife chemotherapy — he joined the Army:￼

Bill needed a job. He needed health benefits. [...]

The Army would solve their health coverage problem. In years past he would have been too old, but in 2005 the age limit for enlistment was increased from 35 to 40, and a year later it was raised again to 42. The tradeoff would be his absence from home.

In the end, although he risked leaving Michelle to fight cancer on her own, Bill chose the Army. He signed on for a job as a signal support systems specialist, a soldier who works with communications equipment.

“Seventy percent of the reason is for the insurance,” said Bill’s mother, Marguerite Hemiller. “He told me, ‘I’ve always wanted to do something for my country and I have to help Michelle.’”

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarentee comprehensive health coverage to all of its citizens. In the rest of the developed world, Bill would not have to leave his cancer-stricken wife behind and risk his own life in order to get her care.

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The 47-member Human Rights Council (HRC) approved a resolution Friday endorsing war crimes charges against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as spelled out in a report by a four-member international fact-finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone.

As expected, the United States threw a protective arm around Israel and voted against the resolution, along with some members of the European Union (EU): Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia, as well as Ukraine.

"The voting was predictable," an Asian diplomat told IPS, pointing out that while Western nations voted against the resolution or abstained, most of the developing countries voted in favor.

The vote was 25 in favor, six against, 11 abstentions and five no-shows.

The Geneva-based Council not only endorsed the recommendations of the Goldstone report but also strongly condemned Israeli policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), including those limiting Palestinian access to their properties and holy sites, particularly in occupied Jerusalem.

Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies told IPS the US vote -- and its obvious pressure on governments dependent on US political, financial or military support -- "indicates just how out of step the administration of President Barack Obama is on this issue."

"There is a clear double-standard, once again, in the US position between Ambassador Susan Rice's recognition of the primacy of accountability for war crimes in the case of Darfur and Sudan, regardless of any potential impact on future peace talks, while rejecting accountability in the case of Israeli actions in Gaza," she said.

She said the US administration claims to base its foreign policy on a commitment to international cooperation and the rule of law.

It is unfortunate that on the question of war crimes against innocent civilians in Gaza, the United States is continuing its longstanding pattern of Israeli exceptionalism, said Bennis, author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer.

"If Washington remains unwilling to hold Israel accountable for its violations, the potential for a new US position in the world -- one in which the United States is respected instead of resented, welcomed as a partner instead of feared -- will be impossible," she added.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, strongly supportive of Israel, said his organization was "outraged, but far from surprised" by the Council's endorsement of the Goldstone report.

Describing the resolution as one-sided, Foxman said the vote only proves the Council's "unwavering and biased focus on all things related to Israel."

"We express profound appreciation to the United States and the five other nations which showed their commitment to principles of fairness and moral responsibility by voting against this resolution," he added.

The five countries that skipped the voting were Angola, France, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar and Britain.

Naseer Aruri, chancellor professor (emeritus), University of Massachusetts, told IPS it remains to be seen how Israel and the Obama administration will react to the adoption of the Goldstone report.

"The latter action will expose Israelis to possible arrests and criminal prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction, when traveling abroad," he noted.

He said the Goldstone report recommends that both Israel and Hamas bring their accused to justice.

"If they don't, they could be facing prosecution in the International Criminal Court and it could signal a major diplomatic defeat for the Obama administration," Aruri said.

"If Obama uses more vetoes in the Security Council to protect Israel from the international scrutiny, he would be placing his country in moral jeopardy," he declared.

Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies said Washington also must take into account its own complicity and potential liability in war crimes during "Operation Cast Lead," the code name for the 22-day Israeli military attacks on Gaza last December.

Violations of the US Arms Export Control Act, which narrowly constrains Israel's use of US-supplied weapons and military equipment, must be investigated thoroughly and violators held accountable, she added.

"The significance of the Goldstone report overall is not because it exposed war crimes that had not been known before; the significance lies in the comprehensiveness of the assessment, certainly, but most of all in the breadth of the recommendations," Bennis said.

She said it is almost unprecedented for a UN human rights report to move so broadly to identify obligations and responsibilities under international law -- not only for the alleged perpetrators, but as well for virtually all relevant United Nations agencies, as well as for individual governments.

It was particularly so in invoking universal jurisdiction, and most especially in defining obligations and recommendations for global civil society.

She said the reversal of the earlier withdrawal of the report from consideration at the Human Rights Council reflects the significance of the issue not only among Palestinians inside the OPT, inside Israel and among the diaspora, but as well in international civil society.

"It was that pressure that forced the Palestinian Authority to reverse its wrong-headed rejection of the report," Bennis added.

Aruri said the government of Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, whose term of office expired 9 January, had succumbed to pressure being exerted by Israel and the United States to defer all discussion of the Goldstone report until next March.

Nearly two weeks later, however, Abbas succumbed to a different kind of pressure, this time exerted by Palestinians, Arabs and various members of the UN Human Rights Council.

A broad coalition succeeded in getting Abbas to rescind his earlier position.

Undoubtedly, Abbas -- who was widely condemned in Palestinian circles, including being accused of treason -- could not withstand the pressure, especially that which included credible calls on him to resign, Aruri added.

In a statement issued Friday, Amnesty International said the resolution recommends that the UN General Assembly, the next body which is able to consider the Goldstone report, do so during its current session.

"Amnesty International urges the Assembly to demand that both Israel and the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza immediately start independent investigations that meet international standards into alleged war crimes, possible crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law reported during the conflict," the statement added.

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